1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a wheeled lift chair advantageous for an incapacitated individual who has fallen to the floor and is too weak or stiff to get up, to be able to slide himself or herself onto the seat of the lift.
The invention herein also relates to assistive devices, more precisely an injury prevention device that protects healthcare providers from injuring their back, neck and shoulders while attempting to lift someone off of the floor.
2. Prior Art
The Center for Disease Control reported that one in three adults over the age of 65 will fall annually. One half of this group will suffer repeat falls. With each decade of life this percentage increases. They have reported that 50% of the people who fall and are unable to get up for just a few hours, will die within 6 months, and that 40% of all extended care admissions are because of repeat falls. In addition for every 1000 extended care residents there will be 1600 falls a year.
Alarming statistics of an aging population that will double between the year 2000 and 2016. The problem of getting people up and the costs associated with the injuries this endeavor causes is a substantial drain to the healthcare system.
The statistic while alarming do not tell the entire story of the fear, loss of autonomy and the disruption of lives that chronic falls cause. With debilitating diseases such as diabetes on the rise there will be an ever-increasing number of falls do to the peripheral neuropathies and weakness. These neuropathies while not life threatening do lead to loss of feeling in the legs and combined with decreases in visual acuity lead to many falls which an individual can not get up from. When this happens and there is a spouse available to help them back up the spouse invariably gets injured, further decreasing the couples overall quality of life.
Several inventors have created lifts that have to do with assisted transfers from one object to another, or in and out of cars, pools, bathtubs and beds but only one addresses the need to recover someone from the floor. The prior art discloses one patent to Hough, U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,655 that addresses a vertical lift chair that an individual could scoot into from the floor and be raised to a seated height. This chair lacks the ability to be moved from one location to another with the person in the chair or out. As falls usually exhaust an individual from the exertion of trying to get up, it is typical for these individuals to need to return to bed to rest before they can walk again. This prior art demands that the individual be capable of walking away from the lift, which they may not be able to do.
The prior art of Hough also has serious safety issues with major shear points between the seat arms and the surrounding lifting frame where an arm or hand could be caught as the lift is raised.
The sliding protective plates used to hide the mechanical workings will eventually snag an article of clothing and cause serious injury. The basic design of this feature may lead to binding over time due to the inherent complexity of the design. Also the fabrics used to cover the motor and drive mechanism will create an environment where someone trying to stand is going to trap their foot between the frame and cloth and suffer another fall. The fabric also lies in close proximity to the rotating drive mechanisms and could become wrapped in the mechanism thus rendering the chair inoperative.
A non-structural problem also exits in the prior art of Hough. In today's world of medical third party payers, a requirement exist for such a lift to be equipped with wheels in order to be reimbursed by an insurer. Without meeting this requirement most of the older or handicapped individuals will be denied access to this useful device due to financial reasons.
The prior art of Allred, U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,016 demonstrates a vertical lifting chair with wheels. The art demonstrates that it does not provide the capability to pick someone up from the floor, nor was it intended to do so. The prior art of Allred does not discuss a braking method to keep the chair stationary during transfers, which is a major safety concern.
Other prior art demonstrates a variety of vertical lifts for the handicapped. They address the need to assist a person out of a chair, or up and down in the bath, or pool, or in and out of bed. There are a number of lifts designed to lift people and wheelchairs in and out of vehicles or up and down stairs using a variety of propulsion mechanisms be it drive screws and reduction gears, levers, pneumatics and hydraulic cylinders and combinations of all of the aforementioned. They do not address the need for an individual who is alone to get up after a fall.
Therefore, objects of the wheeled lift chair of the present invention are:                (a) to provide a mobile self-recovery lift chair that a person can use independently to get up from the floor and regain their ambulatory status;        (b) to provide a mobile self-recovery lift chair that when raised will stay stationary if the person trying to stand thrusts to one side;        (c) to provide a mobile self-recovery lift chair that can be moved room to room, or up and down stairs or outside;        (d) to provide a mobile self-recovery lift chair that sits flush with the ground, allowing someone to scoot onto the seat easily, and when raised to be higher than normal seat height so as to decrease the amount of strength it takes to stand.        (e) to provide an assistive device to care centers, hospitals and homes where it is necessary to quickly get someone off of the floor safely;        (f) to provide a mobile self-recovery lift chair that is small, light, mobile and have as few pinch or entrapment places as possible and provide physical safety to the operators;        (g) to provide a mobile self-recovery lift chair that provides counterbrace holds to stabilize the chair while assisting in transfers into and out of the chair.        
Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description.